Onced

As people have stated, it's better to just adopt. If you're determined to buy it online and it's a purebred, see if you can view the sire/bitches registration certificate. Look into the breed you're purchasing, if they have inherent health problems ask the breeder. If they have documentation from a vet (vaccinations/eye tests etc.) that states the animal is good to go, it's more than likely safe. Other than that, I would not purchase a dog at that price online without being absolutely certain it's legit.  
 
But again: just adopt. It's easier than doing that, and you're giving an unwanted animal a good home.  
 
Edit - I'm taking going to be naive and assume you're American. If my wild assumption is correct, you can find a wealth of knowledge here:  http://www.akc.org/

I debated with myself audibly for a few hours deciding if I should succumb to camera-whoring or not. In the end I decided that I'm not that vai-ah fuck it.  
 

The prices are nuts. Even with the text bolded, italicised and underlined I can't exemplify it enough. It's fortunate that Steam has acceptable prices on most of its games. MW2 priced at eighty-nine US dollars nearly a year after the release is a pretty big exception though. I don't mind laying out the odd one-hundred dollars for a high quality game, but when it's censored to hell and back (L4D2, my eyes are straight on you) due to our archaic rating laws, I get irritated. With most campaigns clocking in at around five or so hours nowadays, it becomes a microscopic inspection to justify the purchase. 

I can relate to your dated gaming experiences man. I'm actually totally pumped for FO:NV. I was intending on preordering off Steam, but the price jumped from $49.99 to $89.99 (what the hell?) so it's unlikely I'll be able to purchase it this month. But that's fine, I'm wasting my time on Mount & Blade: Warband. Nice blog, duder. I hope to see more in future!

Just ordered Kitchen, authored by Banana Yoshimoto last night.  At the moment I'm reading:  
 
Surviving the Killing Fields - Haing S. Ngor 
April Fool's Day - Bryce Courtenay (slow progress, however)

If you've got some friends to play with, you absolutely can not go wrong with L4D2 that's only seven dollars. Also I'm slightly curious, if I purchased L4D2 for a friend who uses a Mac, is he capable of playing with people who use PCs? I'm confused with the matchmaking processes. 

The only Let's Play I've watched so far is Hamst3r running through Amnesia: The Dark Descent. While it's really entertaining, especially considering it's him solo commentating, it hasn't held the appeal that the ERs did. 

Just finished watching Toradora! over a period of two days. I did the same with Elfen Lied a while back. 

LP4 - Ratatat